2-year-old's reaction to her "loser" birthday cake goes viral

July 26th 2019

Feature by Thomas Lethbridge

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Even if you can’t yet form full sentences and aren’t that far removed from a time when object permanence was as unfathomable as Fermat’s last theorem, everyone deserves something special on their birthday. Granted, most of us will never remember our first few birthday parties. But that doesn’t mean that everyone else shouldn’t make a massive effort. Clearly, therefore, if something does go wrong, you’re well within your rights to have a full-on meltdown - even if you’ve only just figured out how to walk.

This reality was typified this week by an American two-year-old’s perfectly reasonable reaction to an accidentally savage birthday cake. Liz Jones, of Bonne Terre, Missouri was shocked to discover that her commemorative bake had failed to wish her many happy returns, instead spelling out the message “Happy Birthday Loser” in sugar-infused calligraphy. Naturally, Liz then produced a thoroughly miserable pout, which has now spread like wildfire across the internet thanks to her mother.

As Melin Jones later made clear to multiple media outlets, the mistake occurred as a result of a mix-up at their local Walmart. Jones explained that the offensive cake was far from a deliberate attempt to ruin a small child’s birthday, but was instead a result of miscommunication. Writing on Facebook, Jones revealed, ““Liz’s nickname is Lizard. I got her a cake at Walmart & asked the lady to write ‘happy Birthday Lizard’ I did not look at it. Don’t ask me why. As I’m unloading the car I look quickly at it and notice the lady didn’t hear ‘Lizard’ she heard loser.”

Although she was initially irritated by the error, Jones Snr quickly saw the funny side and decided to present the cake to Liz as she found it. What arguably makes the photo even funnier is that Liz had absolutely no idea what was going on, and even less understanding of what a “loser” is, making her reaction inexplicably and coincidentally appropriate.

Though the photo was originally posted back in 2018, it has taken almost a year for it to fully emerge after Jones decided to delete it for fear of what would happen to the Walmart employees. As she explained to Fox News, “We live in a super small town and I didn’t want any backlash to come to the lady that misheard me when I asked if she could write on it.” Fortunately however, despite the furore over the photograph, it looks like the cake was just a harmless, if hilarious mistake.